Tiger heats up at Riviera, vaults into top 15
Tiger talks after Saturday of the Genesis Open, feeling the weather helped him out, but still has work to do to finish the third round and the fourth. (1:24)
LOS ANGELES — It took him until late Saturday afternoon, but Tiger Woods finally got hot at chilly Riviera, starting the third round of the Genesis Open with five consecutive 3s, including an eagle and three birdies.
The run vaulted him from just inside the cut line to inside the top 15 as play was halted due to darkness.
“I hit a few good shots, but I made some putts,” Woods said. “I didn’t have four three-putts out there (as he did in the first round). That was positive, and I got off to a nice little roll. Conditions were a little bit tough in the beginning, which was good for me because the guys weren’t really doing much around the golf course, so that was positive.”
With a marathon finish in the Genesis Open awaiting golfers on Sunday, Justin Thomas made the eight holes he played on Saturday count, taking a one-shot lead.
Tiger Woods grew up near Riviera Country Club. He knows the place, says it fits his eye. Yet it is the tournament he has played the most without a win. Why is that?
Justin Thomas leads the tournament at 13-under par, but played just two holes of his third round. Adam Scott is a shot back playing in the final group with Thomas and J.B. Holmes. Woods got to 6 under par through seven holes, but he will need to get up and down for a par from 30 feet at the par-5 17th.
Woods and the rest of the field will resume the third round of the weather-plagued tournament at 6:45 a.m. PT Sunday and will continue into the fourth round with hopes of completing the tournament before darkness.
“It’s going to be a long one,” Woods said. “Up early and start working on it and staying loose and staying ready. It’s just going to be a lot of walking. And the last couple days, it’s definitely testing the body.”
The tournament host who never has won the Genesis Open in 12 previous starts, Woods, 43, seemed on the verge of missing the cut early Saturday morning when he had six holes to complete from his second round. He immediately dropped a shot at the fourth hole, his first of the day, then made a couple of shaking pars before managing to knock in a 24-foot birdie putt at the ninth.
That gave him a score of 71 and a 36-hole total of 1-under 141, which seemed in danger of possibly missing the cut. But he ended up making it by one shot, as the cut came at 142, even par, with 76 players advancing.
When the round ended, Woods was 10 strokes behind leaders Thomas and Scott and in a tie for 52nd. Having difficulty with his putting and having hit just eight of 18 greens — and with a long day looming on Sunday — Woods was asked if he preferred two more rounds of competition over missing the cut.
“You saw what I did last year, I missed the cut here and I had to add an event,” he said. “So I’m playing the weekend and I get two more rounds to kind of get after it.”
Getting a chance to play more golf appeared to be a good thing. His struggles on the greens had continued from his first tournament of the year at the Farmers Insurance Open. At both tournaments he has played this year, the 80-time PGA Tour winner has lamented his poor putting, although for different reasons.
At Torrey Pines three weeks ago, where a final-round 67 helped him finish in a tie for 20th, Woods said he wasn’t reading putts well.
“It’s different,” Woods said. “I am not seeing the line, I’m not feeling comfortable because I’m not seeing the line. Consequently, I’m having a hard time starting my ball on line because I have a hard time seeing it. Hopefully I can find it in here in the last couple rounds.
“Can’t get any worse than it was the first day; four 3-putts is as bad as a human being can putt.”
Woods clearly found something Saturday afternoon. He made a 5-footer for birdie at the short par-4 10th, stuffed a 5-wood from 250 yards to 10 feet at the 11th and made the putt, then rolled in a 20-footer at the 12th and a 10-footer at the 13th. He was 5 under par through four holes.
The streak ended at the par-3 14th, where Woods made a par to at least continue his streak of five consecutive 3s before he made two more pars at the 15th and 16th.
Woods, who serves as tournament host with his TGR Foundation running the event, has had an odd history at Riviera, the course closest to his boyhood Southern California home.
In 11 previous appearances here, two as an amateur, he has no victories, three missed cuts and four top-10s. Along with one year when the tournament went to Valencia Country Club, Woods has played this event the most of any in his career without a victory.